


Operation Get the Guy

by Ereana



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Atsumu & Hinata are romantic disasters, Crushes, Fluff, Following teen magazine advice, Friendship, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Wooing, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26937919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ereana/pseuds/Ereana
Summary: Hinata has a problem. The guy he likes doesn't seem to be interested. Atsumu disagrees, he's seen the way Osamu looks at his teammate.Atsumu has a problem. The guy he likes doesn't seem to be interested. Hinata disagrees, the whole team are betting on when Bokuto and their setter will finally get together.A website on how to woo your crush, a silly competition, and maybe a little too much alcohol might be enough to resolve both of their issues.
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shouyou & Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Osamu
Comments: 26
Kudos: 142





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes another multi-chap from me! This one won't be as long as Not what I expected and I'm not entirely sure what the update schedule will be. I have a soft spot for both of these ships and I hope that you enjoy it!

“I’m telling ya Shou-kun it’s not fair.” 

Hinata snorts and takes another sip of his drink. After several similar outings he’s grown more than accustomed to Atsumu’s dramatic nature, he knows how to play the part his friend needs requires of him.

“What’s not fair Atsumu-san?” He has a pretty good idea about what exactly has caused the kicked puppy look but gives Atsumu the chance to unload his thoughts. The warmth of the bar is cut off as the door opens letting in a blast of chill winter air, and he suppresses a shiver as a tendril of cold reaches the back of his neck.

“How can someone be that cute, that hot, that nice and  _ that  _ amazing of a player at the same time. I didn’t stand a chance.” Atsumu’s head is currently pressed against the counter top so Hinata has to strain his ears to catch the words.

He smiles, shakes his head and slaps a hand on Atsumu’s back. Atsumu lifts his head just enough to glare at him, another person who does not fully appreciate the kindness of Hinata Shouyou  — a tragedy.

“I guess we’re talking about Bokuto-san again.” It’s one of those evenings then.

Atsumu lets out a groan and bangs his head against the polished top. He’s going to get a red mark at that rate, and Hinata would rather not explain to the coach exactly why he let their main setter injure himself on his watch. 

“What did he do this time? Compliment your toss? Hug you so tight you could uh… how’d you describe it last time, feel the entirety of that gods given chest against your own?” He teases and lets out a laugh as Atsumu’s ears turn pink.

His companion sits up and pouts, it would be effective if Hinata hadn’t grown up with a younger sister — no one beats Natsu at the sympathy pout.

“Yer teasin’ me Shou-kun and I don’t appreciate it.” Hinata chuckles and waves a placating hand in Atsumu’s direction. 

“I’m sorry. Seriously what happened this time?” Practice hadn’t gone any different than normal, as they were leaving Atsumu had tugged his hand and given him _the_ _look._ The look meant that Hinata’s services as a confidant were required and that Atsumu would pay for drinks.

“He asked me to help him stretch.” 

Hinata waits expectantly. 

Nothing.

“And?” he prompts.

Atsumu bolts upright and throws his hands in the air. “And? And? Shouyou have you seen him he’s—”

Desperate to cut off another Bokuto triade Hinata interrupts. “Yes, yes I’m well aware of how amazing Bokuto is but your teammates. Sometimes you help each other stretch. It's not a big deal.”

Seriously, it’s really not. They’ve all helped each other stretch before and it’s never felt awkward. So why today? A light bulb goes off and Hinata smirks.

“Oh,’ he drawls, “you haven’t gotten laid in months now have you? Not since you realized your whole Bokuto thing I believe. Wow. You must be so wound up right now, no wonder a little friendly stretching got to you like this.” He laughs and looks down at the glass in his hand. “We are a pair aren’t we.”

“I invited ya here for some sympathy Shou-kun, not this.” Atsumu sulks, and spins his own glass on the counter. 

“I mean maybe if you let me talk about the guy I like I’d be better at it, reciprocity is a beautiful thing.”

Atsumu frowns. “No, no way. I ain’t doin’ that again.”

“Oh come on, I listen to all of your hopeless pining, the least you could do is listen to mine. It’s only fair.”

“Not when the guy yer pinin’ for is my brother. Do ya have any idea how weird it is for yer friend to tell ya that they think yer twin is hot and that they want to suck on his tongue?”

Hinata has the good grace to wince, that hadn’t been one of his best moments. He’d been feeling down after another failure to ask the object of said pining affections out on a date and had drunk more than usual. Looking back, maybe it hadn’t been the smartest thing in the world to tell Atsumu that he wanted his brother to pin him against the world and see if those hands were good at more than just cooking.

He’d probably jump off a building if someone told him they felt that way about Natsu… actually when he thought about it he might jump off a building holding the person who said it.

“Not my best idea I’ll admit but I promise I’ll keep it PG this time. Come on Atsumu, I just need to know if I have a chance.” Hinata whines and shakes his companion in heartache.

“I told ya already ‘Samu like ya. Don’t know why he hasn’t done anythin’ about it but he does. Do ya have any idea how nauseating it is watchin’ him make cow eyes at ya whenever we walk through the door?”

“About as nauseating as watching you and Bokuto flirt during team meals like no one else is there?” Hinata fires back and watches unimpressed as Atsumu crumples forward again.

“I’m tellin’ ya, he doesn’t like me like that. He’s still hung up on that perfect setter of his from high school.”

“Akaashi-san is a very precious  _ friend  _ to Bokuto-san.” 

Rather than listen to Hinata’s, very good, point Atsumu continues to moan. “I mean you’ve seen the guy, how am I meant to compete with that. I’ve never seen someone so pretty in my life.”

“He’s also in a very happy relationship of his own.”

Hinata may as well be talking to a brick wall, but he listens. He always does because Atsumu is his friend and he  _ gets it _ . They’re both carrying huge heart boners for guys who either can’t take a hint or, in Hinata’s case, subtly trying to tell him that he’s not interested. 

Because despite Atsumu’s assurances Hinata can’t bring himself to believe that Osamu likes him that way. He’s rebuffed all of his attempts to try and get them alone together and whenever the conversation starts to flow towards something more flirty he’d abruptly stiffen up and ask about training — specifically about how his partnership with Atsumu was going. While Hinata was usually more than happy to talk about volleyball it was a little disheartening at how clearly uncomfortable Osamu was that he felt like he had to change the subject from Hinata’s clumsy attempts at courting.

“We are pathetic aren’t we?” he says with a wry grin. Privately, he thinks if Atsumu bothered to pull his head out of the sand and ask Bokuto on a date he’d be pleasantly surprised. It is blindingly obvious to everyone else on the team that Atsumu is Bokuto’s favourite. Even Hinata as his disciple can’t hold a candle to the pure affection in his voice when he shouts ‘Tsum-Tsum!’ across the gym.

Atsumu sits up straight and rests his hand on his chin, even after the little tantrum he looks handsome and Hinata feels a moment of Tanaka-like bitterness about the impeccable appearance of pretty boys.

“Yeah we are, but at least we have each other.”

“Can I get Osamu instead?”

“Why ya little!” Atsumu lunges forward and grinds his fist into a mop of orange hair, his other arm wraps around HInata’s neck and secures him in place. “Is this the thanks I get for payin’ for all those drinks?”

Hinata tries to wiggle his way out but Atsumu is not exactly slight and he has to give up after a few seconds. He can feel the eyes of the other patrons on them but as long as they don’t cause too much of a fuss they should be fine.

Atsumu releases him and leans back with a sigh. He flicks a glance at Hinata then back to their empty glasses in front of them. 

“Ya know when I pictured bein’ a professional player when I was a kid it never looked like this.”

Hinata hums and rubs his head, checking to make sure he didn’t suddenly have a new bald patch to worry about. Life never ended up how you imagined and he was glad for it. Karasuno, Brazil, the Jackals he’d never imagined any of it in that fateful moment when he’d seen the little giant fly high above his opponents on the tv screen through a shop moment.

He’d never imagined that he’d be sitting next to an old high school rival turned teammate commiserating with one another over the guys they liked and their own inability to act normal around them.

He’d never imagined that after seven years he’d still have a crush on Miya Osamu. Distance and time had weakened it to be sure, he’d enjoyed himself to the fullest in Brazil, and he’d had more important things to think about upon his return to Japan than an old almost.

He still thought about it though. That brief glorious moment in his second year when Osamu had pulled him into a dark corner of the stadium hallways and kissed him within an inch of his life. His first kiss wasn’t sweet or short like in the romance stories his mum liked — not that he’d read them or anything! — it was a languid, lazy thing that sent his pulse racing as the older boy cradled the back of his neck and angled his head back to deepen it. 

Osamu had been the one to break it, pulling back with a sigh and staring down at Hinata. His eyes taking in the bright pink flush on Hinata’s cheeks and the harshness of his breaths before smirking and leaning in to kiss him again.

_ “Yer makin’ me hungry Shouyou-kun.” _

Those words, and the searing look that went along with them, had echoed in his mind for months after the tournament. 

He thought he’d put it all behind him. 

They hadn’t stayed in touch after that, Osamu’s number staying unused in his phone and he assumed his own had been deleted because he’d never heard anything from Osamu. No matter how many times he’d checked his phone the blank text log under Osamu’s name never changed, and eventually he stopped looking.

Atsumu’s recruitment to the Black Jackals had been on every volleyball magazine in Japan when it happened but there had been no mention of his brother in any of the glossy double spreads that Hinata had poured over in his room.

So he’d bottled up his feelings for Miya Osamu and shoved them into the box that contained his anger at his first year self for ignoring his body’s signals, the inescapable knowledge that he was only standing on the court because of Kageyama, and the pain of that loss from his first official middle school game.

And they’d stayed in that box until Atsumu had called out to him after a match and dragged him over to reintroduce him to his brother.

As if Hinata had ever really forgotten.

One look at Osamu and Hinata was gone. To say that the years had been kind to the man would be an understatement — young,ámbitious, already the owner of his own restaurant — Osamu was the hottest thing Hinata had ever seen, and that was including Oikawa doing that tongue thing when they’d hooked up in Brazil.

There had been a fleeting moment when he’d thought Osamu had wanted to pick up where they left off all those years ago but that hope had been quickly dashed. Even when he’d dropped the most obvious hints about it there was never any recognition in Osamu’s face.

Clearly it hadn’t been important enough to be remembered.

Fine. Hinata could deal with rejection. It wasn’t anything new and the sooner he got over it the better.

Except Osamu was so god damn friendly, and fun to talk to, and a riot to hang out with, and what should have been an old crush fading away roared back to life with an explosion that Hinata was powerless to stop.

The solution?

Nights like this with Atsumu, except he didn’t actually get to moan about his own romantic problems without the other making a retching noise and gagging.

“We can’t go on like this.” Hinata turns to face Atsumu and raises an eyebrow at the stern look on his face. Atsumu sees him looking and nods. “I’m serious, at this rate my wallet ain’t gonna be enough to cover all of this and,” he let out a breath and ran a shaky hand through his hair, “I’m sick of feelin’ like I’m stuck in one place.”

“So what are you suggesting?” There’s a spark of apprehension in his gut, but he and Atsumu are cut from the same cloth and almost any solution to this mess would be welcome.

“We woo them! Make them fall for us, then confess and whap bang boom no more lonely single nights for either of us.” Atsumu looks so proud of his suggestion, and is practically brimming with confidence and determination. 

Hinata has his doubts.

They must be clear on his face because Atsumu raises a finger and wags it at him, like he’s a disobedient puppy. He’s tempted to do something childish and bite it, but he’s not a teenager anymore and he shudders to think of the look on Meian’s face if he ever found out about it. There’s already enough jokes about him and Atsumu going out for drinks together. He's not going to add fuel to the fire by putting his mouth on Atsumu’s body.

Osamu’s body? Now that was a different story.

“I can see that ya don’t believe me but listen Shou-kun. You’ve told me that Bok-kun likes me as more than a friend, and I’ve told ya, about a thousand times by now, that Osamu has a crush on ya the size of the moon.” Atsumu says, and waves his finger in front of Hinata again for good measure.

This was true, despite all evidence to the contrary Atsumu always insisted that Osamu liked him. And Hinata had lost count of the times he’d told Atsumu ‘yes Bokuto genuinely thinks your funny’, ‘yes he was blushing after you complimented his arms’, and ‘dear god yes he was staring at your ass as you walked back to the changing rooms yesterday’ but this had done little to penetrate the stone wall of Atsumu’s skull and the setter was still 100% convinced that their ace only liked him platonically.

He nods at Atsumu anyway, curious to see how this will play out.

“And, neither of us is the type to screw the other over. Especially in such delicate matters of the heart.” Atsumu is in full on speech mode now, Hinata wonders when the dramatic music and cinematic lighting will kick in. “So I say we go for it. Finally try and do something about this mess rather than sit here drinking, not that yer unpleasant company or anythin’ Shouyou.”

Hinata snorts. “Likewise Atsumu-san. I’m assuming you have a plan for this wooing then?”

A phone is unceremoniously shoved in his face and he leans back to read it. The words blurr for a second so he reads it again, blinks then reads it a third time for good measure. He pushes the phone down and just looks at Atsumu. It’s a look he’s copied off Daichi, Ennoshita, and Yamaguchi— the fabled ‘you’ve got to be kidding me look’ right after one of their teammates suggested something stupid.

He’d been on the receiving end of that look a lot.

His own attempt must not be as stern because Atsumu doesn’t look deterred in the slightest. 

“You’re kidding me. ‘Six step plan to make your crush fall for you’? Atsumu, this is for teenagers and movie plot lines.” His eyes flick over the subtitles on the gaudy pink contents page. “No one actually does this, it’s cheesy and lame and—”

“Kita-san swears by it and that’s good enough for me.” Atsumu declares, rocking the foundations of Hinata’s mental state once again.

“ _ Kita-san  _ sent you this?” Hinata’s brain actually winces as it tries to mesh this new knowledge with his image of the former Inarizaki captain.

“Yep, he says it’s the reason he and Aran got together.” Atsumu looks so serious that Hinata is almost tempted to believe him.

“You’re joking.” He says and watches as Atsumu’s confidant smile turns indignant. He dodges out of the way of a perfunctory swipe and turns his attention back to the phone. “How did… why was he even looking at stuff like this.”

Atsumu shrugs his shoulders — Hinata’s pretty sure he hears the group of women in the corner of the bar sigh in admiration — and takes his phone out of Hinata’s lax grip.

“Same reason anyone does, he needed romantic advice and turned to the font of all wisdom that is the internet. If it worked for him, I don’t see any reason why it won’t work for us.”

Hinata can think of plenty of reasons why it won’t work for them, one of the main ones being that neither he nor Atsumu have even a tenth of Kita-san’s coolness required to pull off something like this and not look like an idiot.

“I can see yer not convinced so how about we make this interesting?” Hinata turns his gaze back to Atsumu, the beast inside him pricks up it’s ears. Atsumu smirks, his own beast staring out of his eyes and clawing at the ground. “A competition, we both do the list at the same time and whoever is more successful wins.”

It completely ignores the very real possibility of heartbreak in this arrangement.

Making a competition about romance was always a terrible idea.

How would they even measure success? What if they both got rejected?

It was incredibly, iredeemably stupid.

“Alright, you’re on.”

Curse his stupid, competitive hyena brain.

Curse Kageyama for three years of pointless, mundane challenges that conditioned Hinata to never back down from even the slightest hint of a contest.

Cure Atsumu for knowing him so well and ruthlessly utilising said knowledge to drag Hinata down with him.

Curse his heart for the faint pulse of relief that this is going to actually help him in the long run. If he’s too busy thinking about beating Atsumu his mind will be too preoccupied to shut down whenever Osamu smiles at him.

Curse everyone involved in the whole messy feelings situation.

Except for Bokuto, Bokuto has done nothing wrong and it’s not his fault that Atsumu is completely oblivious to how he feels about him.

Atsumu holds up his empty glass and Hinata mirrors the action. 

“I’ll send ya the link tonight. Operation ‘get the guy’ starts at 08:00 sharp tomorrow. May the best man win.”

They clink their glasses, the clear chime ringing out like the starting whistle of a match.

Hinata smirks, he pushes down the trepidation and fear of fucking up, and focuses on the sizzling thrill of competitiveness that sparks to life in his chest,

“Oh, I plan to Atsumu-san.”

Let the game begin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Step 1 - Compliments! Vocalise what you appreciate about them!**

  
  


“Is it just me or is Miya acting more lovestruck than usual?” 

Hinata looks up from where he’s stretching on the ground to meet Sakusa’s severely unimpressed eyes. Sakusa’s been his warm up partner since he joined the Jackals, a partnership which has partly evolved into a pair of gossipy volleyball players catching the other up on the latest news.

After an initial frosty start, Hinata is pretty confident he can count Sakusa as a friend. He has a dry sense of humour and isn’t afraid to be super blunt when it’s needed. In fact Hinata’s pretty sure Sakusa enjoys being straight-forward and the reactions it elicits.

Hinata dutifully turns his gaze in the direction that Sakusa is scowling at. He chokes back a laugh and resumes his stretching, the sooner it’s done the sooner he can step on the court but it’s not something that can be rushed either.

“Don’t be mean Omi-san, I think it’s cute. And it’s not like Atsumu can help how he feels.”

Sakusa snorts and does the wrist thing that never fails to make Hinata go starry-eyed. “Maybe not but he does have control over his actions and he could exercise some restraint and spare all of us from that disgusting display over there. How Bokuto hasn’t caught on yet is a mystery.”

It’s true, Atsumu has definitely been more ‘attentive’ to Bokuto these past few days, that little wager on their last night out must be the cause. He still hadn’t said anything of course — that wouldn't come until step six and part of the game was following the order — but he’d been less timid around the ace than usual.

“Come on, you don’t think it’s a little endearing? It also might mean he’s actually going to do something about it.” At that remark Sakusa pauses, thinks for a moment and nods.

“That would be best for all parties involved, as much as I don’t want to see any couple stuff from them, the whole pining schtick is getting old fast. They’re lucky it hasn’t affected their gameplay otherwise I would have said something already.”

“Ah, thinking of playing cupid Omi-san? I’m sure you could pull off the outfit.” Sakusa glares at him but Hinata spent his high school years on a team with Tsukishima Kei and Kageyama Tobio. As fierce as Sakusa’s scowl is, it has nothing on those two — Kageyama’s face when Hinata hit a ball into the back of his head is still one of his top five scary images.

“You two almost finished? You’re both on receive duty for now.” Meian calls out to them and they finish up. The subject of the not-so-secret mutual romantic feelings between their teammates dropped for now.

It’s not like they’re the only ones speculating either. Inunaki has a betting pool on when the two of them will get together and Hinata’s pretty sure he saw the coach’s name on the list when it was brought out in the changing room.

The only two who don’t know are the two guys involved which is both hilarious and frustrating. Tomas had bemoaned being approached by Atsumu and Bokuto when they thought the other was mad at them and asking for advice. Hinata sympathised deeply with him as he was in a similar situation; night out’s with Atsumu versus lunches with Bokuto which usually ended with him wanting to lock the two in a room together and refuse to let them out until they talked...or until the next game.

Unfortunately, they were both so convinced the other saw them only platonically they probably would wait until the next game to be let out. The Hinata would be subject to another wistful, doe-eyed story of how awesome the other man was after being locked in a closet together and he didn’t think his sanity could take that.

Pushing those thoughts aside he focuses on practice. Relationships and gossip were fun but volleyball was volleyball and now was the time to work.

A grin curls his mouth as he receives Atsumu’s serve, a spike of childish glee shoots through him at the frustration on the setter’s face. Spiking was still his favourite but Noya was right, there was nothing quite like pulling off a perfect receive.

He reaches for his inner calm and clenches his hands.

“Bring it on!”

Time to play.

It;s only after practice that he allows himself to pay attention to the odd courtship dance between their resident owl and fox. Actually maybe that’s why they're having so much trouble with it, their species were never meant to be together but now they’ve fallen for each other but don’t know how to make the other understand, truly tragic…

Either that or he’s spent a few too many evenings watching nature documentaries with Yachi. He loves her a lot but her tendency to imagine increasingly wild scenarios has never quite left.

“So Bok-kun, what did ya think of the tosses today?” Atsumu asks, and you could practically feel the whole team sigh. Luckily Atsumu only has eyes for one and his attention is locked on Bokuto. Bokuto, who is currently pulling off his shirt and Hinata is pretty sure if anymore blood rushes to Atsumu’s face they’re going to be down one setter for the next game.

“Huh? They were amazing as always Tsum-Tsum! Did you see that last cross spike? You sent the ball right to my palm, like it was sucked there by a vacuum.” Bokuto has never been shy about giving compliments and he leaps into the topic with all the eagerness of a salmon swimming upstream. “You always give me the exact tosses I need, from anywhere on the court. I can’t believe I got lucky enough to be able to play with you on my team.”

It’s nothing Hinata, or the others, haven’t heard before but Atsumu reacts like he’s just been proposed to and looks away with a blush. Sakusa catches his eye and makes a retching motion. Bokuto doesn’t notice as he’s too busy staring at Atsumu, more specifically the blush spreading across his face and Hinata swears he sees the ace’s fingers twitch.

He’s tempted to check for cameras, in case they’d been trapped in some romantic comedy TV show as supporting characters to the hopeless main leads but nope. This is reality.

“W-Well, yer easy to spike ta, and ya never fail to inspire the team, including me.”

“Ha, but without your tosses I wouldn’t be able to do any of that. It feels like they're tailored — yeah that’s the word! Like they’re tailored just for me. You’re one of the most incredible setters I’ve ever played with.”

It was like watching a tennis match. An endless loop of praise that only grew more vehement the longer it went on. 

Hinata had never seen a compliment battle before, and neither of the combatants were the type to back down from a fight, even a verbal one.

He sneaks away to make use of the empty showers but when he returns the battle is still ongoing. Atsumu and Bokuto are standing face to face, a shade too close for what is essentially a very off argument, and Hinata has to say he’s impressed. What usually happens is that Bokuto will praise Atsumu and the setter will turn into a flustered pile of red pining mush until he’s had a chance to collect himself.

It had taken him ten whole minutes in the store cupboard the day Bokuto had offered to help him stretch and complimented his thighs. Bokuto was no longer allowed to pair up with Atsumu for warm-up stretches and it was hard to say if Atsumu was relieved or despondent over the rule.

“Yes, yes everyone played well today.” Meian, bless his soul, finally cuts in and the two finally look away from one another. “No late practice tonight though guys, we have a match in two days and I want everyone in top shape.”

The team murmurs an agreement and Hinata studiously avoids the eyes of Meian and Tomas, he’d only done that once okay! And the lecture he’d been subjected to afterwards had more than made the rule clear.

As they all file out of the gym Hinata waves to the janitor and starts to think about his own plans for this little confession game he and Atsumu have cooked up. This weekend he’s going to Hyogo with Atsumu for a little trip, there’s a certain onigiri shop he intends to visit and hopefully not make a fool of himself in front of the owner.

Bokuto and Atsumu walk out together, chatting happily about the day’s practice and falling back into the rhythm they had in the changing room. Atsumu laughs, bright and loud, at something Bokuto says but it cuts off for a second when he sees Bokuto’s eyes locked on his face.

“Uhh, something wrong Bok-kun? Yer lookin’ pretty intense right there?” Atsumu asks, one hand fiddling with the bag strap over his shoulder.

“Huh?” Bokuto blinks before shaking his head and grinning. “Na, I was....I was only thinking that you’ve got a real nice laugh Tsum-Tsum. Real pretty, you should laugh more often.” And with that he strides on ahead, humming some tune under his breath that Hinata doesn’t recognise. 

Atsumu freezes.

Hinata can almost see the buffering symbol above his head as he processes the words. The blush from before returning full force and for a moment Hinata is worried he’s actually going to faint. He is not going to explain to the others why Atsumu has cracked his skull so he quickly moves behind the other man.

There’s a pause, Bokuto looks back with a frown clearly wondering why his usual walking buddy isn’t by his side. 

Atsumu smacks his cheeks, quite hard given the resounding slap, and shakes his head. He inhales and looks up to meet Bokuto’s gaze.

“Ahh, sorry about that.” He shrugs and then moves to stand beside Bokuto again. “Shall we carry on, don’t want to make my ace late for bed or anythin’.”

Bokuto whoops and the pair set off again, but not before Hinata hears Atsumu’s last words to Bokuto before they round the corner.

“Oh and Bok-kun? My laugh ain’t got nothin’ on that grin of yers.”

Hinata is glad Sakusa isn’t present to hear that and he mentally tips his hat to Atsumu. Step one accomplished, with any luck he’ll have similar success with his own attempt.

* * *

As usual Onigiri Miya is full of happy pleased customers when Hinata and Atsumu enter. It smells absolutely delicious and his stomach rumbles in anticipation of the meal to come. Atsumu taps him on the shoulder and points to the counter.

“Can ya grab a table and order for us? Sorry got a quick call I gotta make, and don’t let him charge ya for it, my treat.” He says and sends a stern look across the room.

“No worries, I know what you want.” Hinata waves him away and heads further inside. Osamu isn’t taking orders but he does nod in greeting as Hinata seats himself in one of the recently vacated booths.

Hinata smiles back, resisting the urge to wave and jump up and down, and sinks further into the comfy seat while he waits for food. All around him the air is filled with idle conversation, laughter and a great deal of munching and he relaxes. There’s something very cozy about the place that puts him at ease. In an odd way it reminds him of sitting on the beach in Rio meditating with the sounds of the sea rolling in his ears. 

Sitting there surrounded by the noises of everyday life and the smell of good food calms him. It’s a reminder of life outside of the court and while volleyball is an integral part of who Hinata is as a person it’s nice to remember that there is a world outside it as well, and that he can slow down and enjoy it passing by.

Two plates are set down in front of him, one is Atsumu’s fatty tuna and the other is his pickled plum order. He looks up to thank the server and almost swallows his tongue.

Osamu smiles down at him, looking taller than usual with Hinata’s seated position, and looks around. He looks fantastic, a slight sheen of sweat on his face from working in a busy kitchen makes his face look a little red, and Hinata will be forever grateful that Osamu was the twin who decided not to keep dying his hair.

Not that he’ll ever tell Atsumu that.

Black hair suits Osamu. Hinata wonders if he ran his fingers through it if it would feel any different than in high school.

“Thought I saw my idiot brother with ya, or was that a trick of the light.” He asks and Hinata tries to unstick his tongue to reply. This is considerably difficult as half of his brain is preoccupied with trying not to drool over food and the other half trying not to drool over Osamu.

How is it that he and Atsumu have the same accent but Osamu’s makes Hinata want to chase those words back into his mouth and kiss them off his tongue?

“Hi Osamu-san, and yes he’s here with me. Said he had a phone call to make, but he’ll be in soon.” He says, pleased that he’s able to form a rational sentence.

“Thought so, still a man can hope.” Osamu rests an arm on the back of the seat opposite Hinata. “How have ya been Shouyou? Ain’t seen ya round here in a while.”

There’s an unspoken question in that and Hinata winces, since his last attempt ended so poorly he’d been avoiding Osamu for the past few weeks. Not that it was hard given they were in different cities but it must have been more apparent than he’d thought if Osamu had picked up on it.

“I’ve been fine, had to rest my ankle a bit after the last match but I’m in tip top condition! The number one spot is going to be ours again, I can feel it.” The match against the Adlers looms in the future, next week to be precise, and there’s a special thrill about facing off against Kageyama that never fails to make him bare his teeth in the semblance of a smile.

He’s behind on overall wins between them but he’s catching up, nipping at Kageyama’s heels and ready to take the lead.

“Ho? Ya sound pretty confident, guess I’ll see if it’s all for show or not at the match.”

Hinata lights up. “You’re coming to our next game! I-I know that Atsumu and the team will appreciate it. The food you bring is always fantastic, there’s never any leftover.”

Osamu hums and slides into the opposing seat. That’s a good sign right?

“Now that’s what I like ta hear. Though to be honest, I thought a big shot team like yers wouldn’t be satisfied with my humble offering.” He’s grinning and Hinata rolls his eyes, everyone who’s ever eaten at Onigiri Miya would testify in court that the food is sublime. Osamu is fishing for compliments and Hinata is more than happy to give them.

He rests his hands on the table and leans forward with his own grin. The din from the other customers fading into background noise as he focuses on the man sat in front of him.

“You know as well as I do that your food is fantastic.” He says with a curl of laughter in his words.

“I don’t know, been a while since I seen ya after all. Maybe ya changed yer mind, or found a new onigiri dealer.” Osamu replies, once again poking at a question Hinata doesn’t want to answer. Half-lidded eyes bore into his own, intense in a way that doesn’t fit with the conversation.

_“Hey did you see the way that number 11 was watching Hinata during the game?”_

_“Huh? He was?”_

_“Yes idiot, he kept looking at you even when you weren’t on the court.”_

_“Don’t call me an idiot! And that’s my job right to be the ‘greatest decoy’ isn’t it a good thing he’s watching me?”_

_“I don’t know Hinata, Tsukki’s right about him looking over when you were on the bench that’s not from being a decoy on the court and….he looked kinda…”_

_“Hungry. He looked at you like he was hungry for something.”_

Hinata’s earlier hunger fades away as a craving of a different type starts to bubble up in its place. A craving that makes his blood hot in his veins and turns his thoughts sluggish. Two years in Brazil and a year in Japan have made him familiar with his craving and he knows exactly how to sate it.

“Osamu-san,” he says in a chiding tone, “your food is some of the best I’ve ever eaten. It’s absolutely exquisite. I always come back hungry for more don’t I?”

_And you._

“So you haven’t replaced me with a newer, talented, better-looking chef then? Good ta hear, yer one of my favourite customers after all.” Osamu smirks and his voice pours over Hinata’s senses like thick honey. Damn that voice, it makes everything inside him perk up and if he had a tail it would be wagging. He wants to hear that voice whisper things into his ear as those clever, clever hands roam over his body and relearn the difference six years could make.

Hinata wants to find out if Osamu tastes the same as he did as a teenager, wants the attention of those deceptively lazy eyes on him and only him.

He reaches for his plate and takes a deliberate bite of his onigiri. Flavour bursts along his tongue and he lets out a only-slightly exaggerated moan. Never taking his gaze off the man sat across from him

Osamu’s eyes flare.

Hinata swallows his bite of onigiri and puts on his best ‘come-get-me’ smile that he perfected in Brazil. The one that had about an 80% success rate.

“As I said, the best I ever had.” He’s not even sure if he’s talking about food anymore.

Osamu sucks in a breath and surely Hinata can’t be the only one feeling the thread between them pulling tight. Osamu leans in and Hinata is half a second from stretching his neck up when-

“I’m back! Didya get my food?”

Hinata is going to murder Atsumu. Slowly. With one of the poles they use for the net.

Osamu jerks back so fast it’s a wonder he doesn’t get whiplash. Hinata has a moment to register the loss before the seat opposite him is empty and Osamu is walking back towards the counter.

“Yeah, yeah it’s on the table Shouyou saved for ya. Next time don’t keep him waitin’ who knows what could happen.” Atsumu raises an eyebrow at this and looks to Hinata.

Hinata is still pushing down the urge to kill so keeps a blank face, inwardly wailing at the sight of Osamu walking away from him.

Not that the view from behind is any less impressive.

Atsumu slides into Osamu’s empty seat and takes a large bite out of his own onigiri.

“So how’d it go.”

Yep, murder it is.

**Step 1 complete!**

**Atsumu 1 : Hinata 0**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed chapter 2! This time featuring the other halves of these ships :) Huge thank you to everyone who has left a comment or kudos or subscribed. Your support means a lot and I hope this chapter met your expectations.
> 
> Feel free to come say hi on[my twitter](https://twitter.com/Jen_B93) if you want!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you liked chapter 1, this is meant to be something a little fluffy and fun. If you decide to leave a kudo or a comment thank you very much! 
> 
> Feel free to come say hi on[my twitter](https://twitter.com/Jen_B93) if you want :)


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